PhD Vacancy: Social Media Evidence in the Construction of Arguments Before the International Court of Justice

The cases recently heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) show a growing reliance by the parties on social media evidence. Photos, videos, and statements that have been published on social media have been brought forward in support of the parties’ positions. As a novel development, this raises interesting legal questions both from the standpoint of evidentiary standards, and from the standpoint of litigants’ strategies.

This PhD project aims to explore the ways in which litigants (states or other actors) construct their legal arguments in international litigation on the basis of social media evidence. More specifically, the research focuses on the construction of arguments from the perspective of strategy and the perspective of authority.

With respect to strategy, questions may include whether social media evidence is used to establish a fact, to argue for a particular interpretation of a rule, or to achieve a broader aim beyond the settlement of the particular dispute. With respect to authority, questions will concern why litigants use social media evidence and why this evidence is accepted or not by the court in question — is the acceptance/rejection based on legal standards of evidence, on the fact that the court in question had accepted the evidence in question in earlier case law, or on the need to consider this type evidence due to their novelty.

In terms of methodology, the PhD student will be expected to employ doctrinal and qualitative research methodologies (including the study of transcripts of pleadings before the ICJ). The PhD student will be encouraged to use critical legal methodologies and/or other interdisciplinary methodologies in the design of the research. Depending on the original findings and bearing in mind considerations of feasibility, the PhD project may include comparisons between the ICJ and other international courts in the parties’ reliance on social media evidence.

The researcher is expected to successfully undertake research on the project, publish and edit books and articles, attend, present in, and organize conferences and workshops and undertake teaching activities related to the project. They will also be expected to participate actively in the Department of Transboundary Legal Studies, a lively legal multidisciplinary department that includes international law and legal theory.

Additional preferred qualifications for this PhD position

• LLM (or being in the final phase of an LLM) with excellent marks in and knowledge of Public International Law
• Interest in and affinity with legal scientific research; a background in legal practice and/or publications in international law would be an advantage
• Excellent communication and reporting skills, also in relation to non-legal scholars

Supervision Team

• Dr Marina Fortuna
• Dr Nina Mileva
• Prof. Panos Merkouris